Find out where DC has been in the news this month and what's new with the marketing team.
Destination DC's (DDC) marketing and communications strategy supports economic development through tourism by reaching potential visitors and inspiring them to travel to the nation’s capital. The current cross-channel promotional efforts are focused on fall travel across editorial and content development.
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Media Coverage
Domestic
The TODAY Show highlights the number of cherry blossoms across the city. AAA and Family Vacationist name DC among its top spring break destinations, Nat Geo lists DC among the best places to celebrate America’s 250th and She Buys Travel says DC is a top city to visit with teens. Travel + Leisure mentions more than 25 members in its updated story about when to visit, while Passport’s guide to WorldPride is a first-person account of an LGBTQ+ trip to DC. Elliott talks about the economic impact of tourism with ABC 7.
International
Germany’s Mannschaft and Têtu Magazine (France) spotlight WorldPride, and India’s Hindustan Times promotes the WorldPride Music Festival. The New Zealand Herald ranks the best things to see and do in the city. China’s Voyage spotlights DDC’s trip to China, which is syndicated 13 times. Travel News Digest (India) lists A250 experiences in DC and Travel & Life (Mexico) compiles eight luxury hotels and experiences in DC. Brazil’sViagem News features African American heritage in DC.
Trade
Convention South's Event Planner Guide to Washington, DC features the value of working with DDC and more than 100 members. Dianna Waldroup shares her expertise on managing event risk for a white paper produced by Smart Meetings and Destinations International. Trade outlets highlight DC's new hotels, spring blooms, WorldPride and pandas. Destinations' cover story on Black heritage tourism spotlights DC's new Go-Go Museum & Cafe, the Anacostia Community Museum and more. The communications team supported DDC's second annual Sustainability Summit, which is picked up by Exhibitor and Travel and Tour World.
Marketing Highlights
The District Blog
DDC's content team has launched The District Blog, a new content hub designed to drive visitation by making DC’s attractions and experiences more discoverable and engaging than ever before. The blog surfaces a wide variety of inspirational content — from popular listicles to niche articles — organized by interest categories like Shopping, Museums, Food & Drink and Family-Friendly. The setup allows potential travelers to stumble upon new ideas, explore by passion and easily dive deeper into related experiences, creating a "rabbit hole" effect that keeps them excited about visiting DC. The team will gather insights from user behavior to better tailor content to inspire future visitors and convert them even more effectively.
WorldPride DC 2025
With the celebration slated for May 17 through June 8, DDC is in the final stages of preparation for WorldPride. A content hub welcomes potential visitors with a range of content, from the event-focused to the inspirational and informational. Support also includes promotion of the global celebration across all channels, including advertising and social media. DDC's communications team plans to host approximately 40 journalists and influencers across the multi-week extravaganza.
Social Highlights
Leisure Social
We kicked off April with a wave of seasonal content celebrating the city’s spring weather – from our Spring Bucket List to family-friendly activity guides and rooftop recs perfect for warmer days.
Our flower coverage remained a fan favorite, including spotlights of wisteria, forsythia and stopping to smell the flowers. In celebration of Earth Month, we leaned into sustainable travel, featuring eco-conscious vacation tips and secondhand shopping along with the parks across our city.
DC’s dynamic sports and cultural scenes also shined bright this month. We celebrated Alex Ovechkin’s surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring record, cheered on the DC Defenders, shared reasons to catch a Nationals game and announced this year’s Jazz in the Garden schedule.
Rounding out the month, we highlighted diverse cultural touch points including International Dance Day, National Shakespeare Day and the International Day of Human Space Flight, showcasing the endless ways to explore #Only1DC.
Industry Social
Industry channels welcomed Awesome Com back to the convention center and celebrated Global Meetings Industry Day and Operation Cherry Pie. We recapped the Sustainability Summit and the ways attendees arrived in style (sustainably!). We honored Emancipation Day in DC, spotlighted Elliott Ferguson’s PCMA Lifetime Achievement Award and shared how Destination DC is gearing up to celebrate 4th of July in the nation’s capital.
Member Spotlights included Lattly, Bartaco, Colada Shop, Ama and Cafe Cino.
